BLOG 18: Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass”, which Ralph Waldo Emerson called “the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed”, displays works on war, nature, life and death, and more (Kaplan 431). One of his poems, “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”, really shows what Whitman is about. It is that transcendentalist belief that more can be learned from seeing things as they naturally are than from a lecture. In the poem, a man listens to an astronomer explaining something, but the author grows “tired and sick” (Whitman 411). He leaves the lecture and finds that looking up at the stars in perfect silence is much more divine. In this poem, but more so in many of his others poems, he expresses his attachment to nature.

“Emerson argued that divinity was present throughout the physical world and that all humans were equally miracles of creation”, which is something that Whitman definitely believed (Letter to Walt Whitman). Whitman said: “As to me I know nothing else but miracles”, and, after listing many natural things as miracles he says that “These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles” (Whitman). Emerson also had the same belief that Whitman expressed in “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer.” In “Nature”, Emerson basically says that intuition, with seeing things as they naturally fall in relation to a larger scheme of life, is preferable to sciences. They both seem to have this same belief, but it would make more sense if they could find harmony between the two. Listen to the lectures and study the sciences, and then apply that when looking at the stars or viewing nature.

One subject that Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman appear to differ on is government. Thoreau wanted little to no government, as he says: “That government is best which governs not at all", while Whitman praised democracy (Thoreau). Emerson and Thoreau had a lot in common due to their mentor-mentee relationship, and Whitman and Emerson had a lot in common, so, by the associative property, Thoreau and Whitman had a lot in common. They both loved nature and believed it had something to teach.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Letter to Walt Whitman (July 21, 1855). Quoted as "Letter to Walt Whitman" in Bloom, Harold, ed. Walt Whitman, Classic Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2007.Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCVWaW058&SingleRecord=True

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Nature." Ralph Waldo Emerson Texts. Web. 06 Feb. 2012.

Kaplan, Justin. “from Walt Whitman: A Life.” Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 430-436. Print.


Thoreau, Henry David. "Thoreau's Civil Disobedience - with Annotated Text." The Thoreau Reader. Web. 25 Jan. 2012.

Whitman, Walt. "Miracles - Walt Whitman (1819-1892)." Books & Literature Classics. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. .

Whitman, Walt. “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer.” Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 411. Print.